Monday, September 30, 2002

Linking across weblogs to form threads Steve, there is definitely a group of people out there who want the same things we do in our blogs: the ability to link posts across blogs to create a thread. We should work towards integrating our two blogs, using either or both of these, to see which one works and if there are any improvements we can add. Pingback vs. Trackback. I don't like having comments on my Web log because I believe if you want to comment then you should do so on your own Web log. If I'd wanted to host a discussion forum, I'd have installed discussion forum software, not Web logging software! [ Hixie's Natural Log, Whitepaper: Pingback vs. Trackback found via diveintomark] I still think comments are a nice feature, if only for those hapless folks who have no weblog. [Blogging Roller] 9:41:55 AM    comment

RSS: Channels vs Newsletters I was just explaining this experience to Tony the other day. I don't want newsletters, I want a stream of thoughts. Join The RSS News Aggregator Cult!. The RSS conversion "John Gruber is going through the RSS conversion. First, you start using a news aggregator that you like, then you feel dumb for not providing an RSS feed for your Web site, and then you kind of stop reading all those sites that don't have RSS feeds. There are some sites that don't support RSS that I still follow, but the truth is that I read them sporadically at best, regardless of how good they are. That's still a better situation than when I didn't use a news aggregator at all and I simply stopped reading all personal sites for weeks at a time because I didn't make time to stroll through my bookmark list to see who was writing what." [rc3.org] If you haven't tried an aggregator, pass go and collect $200 now. It's amazing to watch others go through the same light bulb moments I did! Side note to libraries: note the shift in how these on the bleeding edge folks are reading web sites. It's time to start thinking about how to get YOUR news into THEIR aggregators. Side note to John: Perceive Designs is syndicating Zeldman for us. [The Shifted Librarian] 9:29:22 AM    comment

	Sunday, September 29, 2002

Macromedia uses weblogs as dev relations Gosh, only 8 articles about weblogs on Business 2.0. That seems rather small. I wonder if we could get an update to the Macromedia article. In particular, I'd like to get any metrics they may have: defect rate, report-to-fix rate, increased sales, increased productivity, anything really... 11:05:58 PM    comment

Google takes the Blogosphere pulse Google can do weblog channels. They've already started, they just call them categories. OK, so now all Google has to do is let me create a few new categories, and then constantly update the results. Gosh, now that sounds like saved searches and search bots that report in XML. 10:52:31 PM    comment

	Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Pingbacks and distributed discussion lists This seems to relate to what djcatnip was talking about several months ago: each person having their own weblog, and having a thread of weblog entries criss-crossing between various blogs. Pingback via Dave: The development of blogs as a semi-structured forum for online discussion continues. Pingback is likely a much better method of gathering references than by using referrers, which are quite noisy (due to bots, search engines, and more). It also affords the opportunity of getting a more targeted permalink to the referenced comment, assuming of course that the originator properly tagged their post - which is not always the case. So, how long before someone implements a blog UI that resembles a standard topic/response outline/tree discussion format? I've got mixed feelings when I try to look ahead: I don't see how such protocols might handle nested response-to-responses, and then how long before we see "auto pingback generator" spambots? Then, counter-spam "allow lists" and "deny lists", reputation mechanisms, and ... then we'll find that all we've done is to decentralize the same old centralized discussion mechanism. I don't have a Discuss link on this blog for a reason: I think that it's a Good Thing that this blog medium is different than a traditional electronic discussion medium - relying on human mechanisms to "spread the word" about interesting referrals, rather than technical mechanisms. I do scan my referrals once in a while to see if there's something that I'm missing, or to get a feel for the quantity of the flow coming from a certain source. I do look at the WebTrends reports on my site, because it gives me a good feeling for what time of day people look at the site, or from what countries or companies. These are great uses of automation. But for organizing discussion .. I'm thinking right now that I'd prefer to stick with human talkback rather than automated pingback. [Ray Ozzie's Weblog] 12:52:27 PM    comment

	Monday, September 23, 2002

GPS digital cameras! The GPS-enabled consumer digital camera takes another step forward. GPS Set To Invade Devices. Motorola: New Chip Will Bring GPS to All "The company is unveiling a global positioning system chip it says is the first GPS device small enough and cheap enough for practical use in gadgets such as cell phones and notebooks.... 'All of a sudden, starting 10 or 15 years ago, every electronics device had a clock,' said Tim McCarthy, business director for GPS at Motorola's Automotive Group's Telematics Division. "I see position awareness going down that same path. It's just a question of how long it takes." Cellular phones with Enhanced 911 will likely be the first devices to adopt the Instant GPS chip, which Motorola is set to announce Tuesday. The chip could also be built into PDAs or laptop computers to aid in reading maps, and it could be used in walkie-talkies to provide an extra margin of safety for outdoor activities such as skiing." [CNET News.com] This reminds me of a quote I once read from someone at GM, an executive of some sort within the company. He said, "Don't worry about On-Star. You'll be On-Star." [The Shifted Librarian] 11:12:18 PM    comment

	Sunday, May 19, 2002

Storytelling, rich media, and web services MSNBC's Forrest Sawyer kicked off InfoWorld's NextGen conference with a sweeping survey of evolutionary, cultural, and technological history in the manner of James Burke. Speaking as a communicator, not a technologist, Sawyer recounted the many ways in which technologists have missed the point: communication is not a problem to be solved, it's what makes us human, and the most essential human act is telling a story. ... [Jon's Radio] 10:15:27 AM    comment

Building a better journalling application Alright guys, it's been a few months now, and we've all had a chance to explore weblogging a bit. What are some of your initial thoughts? I've got a wishlist to offer: desktop client WYSIWIG editing property editing enhance "categories" to metaphore "notebooks" smart highlighting - applies a category to a selection of text searching! better browsing by date UI UI UI! Post 'em on your 'blogs, and let's figure out how to share our comments with each other... 1:09:53 AM    comment

	Monday, March 25, 2002

Turning Entourage Into BloggerJack(tm) To: jud spencer I have been working on creating a blogging system using Entourage as my main interface, and I wanted to share my progress with you to see if you could suggest further improvements. Here is my latest set-up: - domain name is deeje.com - all mail to dn comes to me in Entourage - special rules for special addresses - journal*deeje.com - weblog*deeje.com - all mail to journal and from me -> move to my archives folder - all mail to weblog and from me -> move to my archives folder & run AppleScript Post to Weblog - queries message for properties, data - reformats as XML-RPC - using the blogger api - and sends to Radio daemon Combing the features of Entourage with the flexibility of AppleScript has allowed me to meld two powerful paradigms into one. I can now correspond with my closest friends and share our discussions with others, ala The McLaughlin Group. Here is my ever-present to-do list for BloggerJack(tm) (googlewhack?) * better handling of special characters! * support for HTML as output by Entourage? * Will Entourage provide HTML as one of the scriptable parts property? * Will Entourage provide attachable AppleScripts on folders? * move from blogger api to radio api (for Title & URL support) * be more specific in what is public and what is private email * turn attachments into public file downloads Thoughts? Send 'em to me! 12:18:55 PM    comment

	Friday, February 1, 2002

The Assistant X technology and SDK are shaping up. Here's the technology plan: implement Assistant X AgentApp as a cocoa/carbon daemon app that exposes a dynamic AppleEvent dictionary based on installed agent plugins and descriptor files. client apps can call to the daemon with appleevents load and show agents, tell agents to communicate with the user, to make faces, etc. Users can also write AppleScripts to drive many agents via scripting. Thhe AgentApp can also deliver realtime responses back to the app via an AppleEvent EventHandler. 5:48:33 PM    comment

i'm thinking of writing a book: the book will have the following sections: - introduction = Next Generation Computing Assistant - credentials = consumer solutions marketing, design, and engineering experience - audience = early adopters who want to influence the market - people = why aren't our address books the center of our computing experience? - events = revolutionizing time management - communication = computer as ultimate walkie talkie - 3D = space isn't our problem, memory is - archives = journals on steroids 5:31:10 PM    comment

what are the current standards for calendaring on the internet? Is SyncML going to be the format? What markets can businesses use to incorporate SyncML in meaningful ways? How about user-opted event reminders that magically show up on a consumer's computer system? (Note that the system includes desktop and laptop computers synched with handhelds.) Example: The Backyarrd Stargazer Newsletter is a newsletter I found somewhere (there's no link in my current edition!!!!) which lists all kinds of cellestial events each month. I'd like to put checkboxes next to the interesting events, which automatically adds them to my calendar system. How that works, I don't know. You're all bright people, let's figure this one out! 5:13:30 PM    comment

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